Dangerous diversion

Sep 04,2018 -JORDAN TIMES EDITORIAL

While the Palestinian leadership may have discussed the federation or confederation idea between Jordan and the West Bank, Jordan is on record, and has been on record, for decades that the future relations between the West Bank and Jordan can only mature and become viable when there is a free and independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Any such talk now is not only premature, but highly prejudicial to the two-state solution that continues to be the bedrock of Jordan’s position on the future relations between an independent Palestinian state and Jordan.

Clearly, the US officials who floated such an idea before the Palestinian side intended it to be a bait, with only one goal in mind: The frustration of the two-state solution. The US needs to be advised, once again, that there is no way out of the two-state solution and the sooner this fact soaks in, the better for all sides.

The Palestinian leadership did the right thing when it rejected the idea outright and called it a dangerous diversion. His Majesty King Abdullah served notice during his repeated visits to Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump that there is only one solution for the Palestinian conflict and that it is the two-state solution. What happens after this solution is attained is an open question, which both the Jordanian and Palestinian peoples would have to address.

With the picture of the US version of “deal of the century” still fuzzy to say the least, the final and ultimate settlement of the Palestinian problem cannot withstand more complications or intermediary interventions by the US or others that bypass the heart of the conflict, which is nothing other than the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital.